Yaounde, Aug 15 (IANS) Former Chadian Prime Minister and opposition leader Succes Masra called for forgiveness and reconciliation hours after being freed from prison under a presidential pardon.
Masra was released on Friday and spoke to supporters at the headquarters of his party, The Transformers, in the capital N’Djamena, in the early hours of Saturday, around 1:50 a.m. local time.
“With an open heart, we forgive all those who have wronged us. We must forgive,” Masra told the crowd, adding that he held no grudges, Xinhua News Agency reported.
Chadian President Mahamat Idriss Deby Itno has signed two decrees granting presidential pardons to nine political leaders and partial sentence reductions to other convicts across the country, the presidency said Friday morning.
Masra was among nine politicians granted clemency. He was sentenced to 20 years in prison and ordered to pay 1 billion CFA francs (about 1.76 US dollars) in damages.
Eight leaders of the Consultation Group of Political Actors, including party presidents and secretaries-general, have also been pardoned following requests submitted to the head of state.
While the decision, initially announced by Mahamat Deby on August 10 on the eve of Chad’s Independence Day, lifts the prison sentences, authorities said it does not cancel civil penalties, which remain enforceable.
“Chad has suffered too much from the horrors of war and division,” as well as intercommunal conflicts “that sow death and grief,” Mahamat said in an address to the nation on the eve of Independence Day, noting that the country’s future depends on “its ability to remain united and stand together” despite the challenges it faces.
Masra, president of Chad’s opposition political party The Transformers, served as prime minister of the transitional government from January to May 2024. He was arrested in May 2025 and sentenced in August 2025 for “inciting hatred and revolt” and complicity in murder.
Thanking Mahamat Deby for the pardon, Masra said he was ready to work with the government on reforms. “We are ready to work with the President of the Republic,” he said.
–IANS
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